Advertise here with Carbon Ads

This site is made possible by member support. 💞

Big thanks to Arcustech for hosting the site and offering amazing tech support.

When you buy through links on kottke.org, I may earn an affiliate commission. Thanks for supporting the site!

kottke.org. home of fine hypertext products since 1998.

Beloved by 86.47% of the web.

🍔  💀  📸  😭  🕳️  🤠  🎬  🥔

Using lidar, scientists discovered a 400-foot-long wall composed of “60 massive granite monoliths, set directly onto the bedrock in pairs at regular intervals”. The wall is 30 feet underwater and was built 7000+ years ago.

Comments  6

Sort by: thread — thread . latest . faves

D
David McCormick

I think if it’s underwater, it will be using high-resolution sonar (sound waves), rather than LIDAR (laser), which would not penetrate the water. But very cool discovery and article. Thanks.

D
David McCormick

Wow: I was totally wrong: it was with LIDAR. Apparently the water is clear enough and the features are shallow enough that they could use LIDAR. That’s amazing in its own right. Learn something knew every day….

J
Jason KottkeMOD

(This is why we read the link before commenting here at KDO.)

S
Sophie

Thanks for the link! My first reaction was "Where is this??". Well, it turns out it’s in my neck of the woods (or of the sea)! I hadn’t heard of it, I will pay hommage to it next time I visit the Ile de Sein.

B
Bill Amstutz

This is my favorite story of the year. I especially love how it hints to the local legend of the sunken city of Ys. It is geographical memory that endures as myth.
A rabbit-hole journey led me to Claude Debussy's piano prelude "La Cathédrale engloutie" (The Sunken Cathedral) first performed in 1910 which I am listening to now. It, "is based on an ancient Breton myth in which a cathedral, submerged underwater off the coast of the Island of Ys, rises up from the sea on clear mornings when the water is transparent. Sounds can be heard of priests chanting, bells chiming, and the organ playing, from across the sea." - Wikipedia

M
Maura C

What a beautiful rabbit-hole! Thanks for pointing me to a moody, romantic, evocative piece of music.

This thread is closed for new comments & replies. Thanks to everyone for participating!